Monday, January 7, 2013

Dawn
to Dusk, 2012 edition, ended in failure, I don’t even have pictures.
There wasn’t even a lot of drama to it. I ran the first three miles
with about a 10 mph tail wind in a light mixture of rain and snow. My legs
felt good but it was really cold right from the start. I met Jane,
Denice and Kristen at the Park and Ride lot at the intersection of Kings
Valley Highway and Highway 22, only to find out that every car
previously parked there had been broken into. It was at least 6 cars
with their windows broken. Denice and Kristen did decide to leave their
cars anyway and we headed off toward Perrydale, picking up Tracy along
the way. By the time we reached Perrydale, about mile 10, the
temperature was dropping and the wind was increasing. We now had Jeanne
for crew support, but as a group we were moving much slower than I had
anticipated the first part going. I was starting to hear and observe
some of my early companions making alternate plans to get in a warm damn
car! I had only planned to have company until mile 16 so, when at mile
12, turning straight into the 20 to 30 mph freezing wind I still had
one, Denice, I considered myself fortunate. The rain and snow mix was
coming down very heavy now and being blown straight into us by the wind.
There was almost no talking those last 4 miles as neither of us could
make discernible words come out of our frozen mouths, but the pace was
pretty admirable considering the circumstances. I remember thinking,
“oh, sure, you’re running this fast, you just want to get in the car
sooner”. At mile 16, and now alone on the road, I asked Jeanne to go
ahead to Rickreall and wait for me there. I was completely drenched,
and even in wool, very cold. I was having trouble squeezing my water
bottle because my hands were so frozen and was starting to “not feel the
road” with my frozen feet. Getting close to Rickreall my thoughts
were, there’s a convenience store there. If I could get some warm
chicken noodle soup in me and sit in the car for a little while to warm
back up I wouldn’t be too far behind schedule. I was also thinking
about the fact that I hadn’t made it to any of the hills yet, where I
knew the snow would be worse. As I approached the car in Rickreall,
Jeanne jumped out to get supplies ready for me and I quit with the
symbolic thumb slit to the throat. Just like that. No hemming or
hawing about whether I should or shouldn’t. In the next few minutes
after the decision was made, it seemed my body temperature dropped
another 10 degrees. It took almost the rest of the afternoon before I
felt warm again, and my fingertips were still sore the next morning.
So, no Dawn to Dusk for 2012.I
did still have the daunting task of getting to 2,000 miles for the
year. In July, it seemed my 4 year streak of consecutive 2,000 mile
years was going to come to an end. But an injury free 5 months put me
within range, a very patient Jeanne gave me the time and a 107 mile last
week got the job done.Goals
and plans for 2013. Attempt 100 miles in one day at the Pac Rim 24
race in Longview WA in March. Attempt to qualify for Boston at Newport
OR Marathon in June. Run Across Oregon in July/August while turning
(gulp) 50 and pass the 20,000 miles run mark before the end of the year
(I need 2,296).